Thinking - Out of the Mouths of Babes

My son is 10. Yesterday morning he wrote this down:

If everyone is thinking the same, then someone isn't thinking.

Profound.

Small Christianity

I get inundated with emails from time to time, typically forwards from lists that others are on with don't read this book, don't watch that movie, etc. I used to belong to every "family activist" type list you could imagine - and they spewed out this stuff in massive doses. Things were boycotted, banned, rallied for or against, etc. What I have learned is that I don't need another living person to tell me what is right or wrong, but the Holy Spirit that dwells in me. I am not scared to watch, read or listen to something that contradicts what I believe. In fact, quite often instead of weakening my faith, it makes me stronger. When the rubber meets the road, and I see, or read or hear something that causes me to dig deep into what I really hold to be true, and give voice to my faith, I grow. From a parental standpoint, I am trying to raise my kids just the same way. I am not afraid for them to hear things that are different from what we have told them. We have grounded them, and are grounding them in the truth, but allowing them to learn to voice the truth for themselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit in them. We want them to learn to hear the Lord's voice and not ours streaming through their heart and mind, shooting down falsehoods and discerning false teachers and teachings.
I do appreciate the information, but what I've concluded is this - if our faith comes down to a series of "dos" and "don'ts" on some man-made list of what we should embrace or avoid, I think our Christianity has gotten pretty small. Instead of being a force of abundant living, it is a crippling taskmaster. If God trusted us each enough to give us a free will, then He can certainly trust us to live free and not check our brains at the door!

I Wish I Could Turn My Brain Off

Sometimes I think that being a thinking person is a curse. I don't mean that I am a total brainiac that is always thinking about Einstein's theory of relativity or anything like that - but that unlike some women who are thinking about their nails or where they want their husbands to take them for dinner, I am always thinking about the complexities of life, faith, parenting, relationships, etc. Today has been a major thinking day. I have been terribly upset about the miners that are trapped in Utah. I am struggling with my faith and understanding how it is that just because a person lives in a certain area, or grows up with specific socio-economic challenges - they are in a job that has now endangered their lives. I also wonder that because a person was born in a certain culture, or ethnicity they may be entrenched in a religion that would separate them from God. I think about how panic stricken I would be if I were trapped in a mine. I think of how horrible it would be to know someone you loved was in a mine for 9 days, and have no clue as to whether or not they were dead or alive. I think I know God's character - but these things cause me to grapple with His goodness when things seem so terrible or unfair. The shortcoming is my inability to fully know Him, and not His in any way. Can anyone relate?

Hysterical Song

I guess because there is so much truth to what is in public education - it's not THAT funny! If you get a chance to go and listen to this song . Let me know what you think!